Video: Minecraft app taps augmented reality

Shane McGlaun, 27th November 2012

Minecraft is a wildly popular game that spans multiple platforms, including mobile devices.

The title boasts blocky graphics that remind old-school gamers of games from the 80's. For the uninitiated, Minecraft can best be described as an open platform game that allows users build just about anything they can dream up in terms of mods.

Recently, a new app for Minecraft was introduced by Mojang in cooperation with a company known as 13th Lab.

The app - dubbed Minecraft Reality - allows players to place models they construct in Minecraft into real-world settings. Interestingly, the app goes farther than just letting you place your blocky constructs on the ground and pretending they are real. Reather, this app helps you to place your Minecraft creations into real-world settings with high accuracy and perspective correct precision.

You'll have to watch the video above to see what we mean, but basically you can build a model of your favorite car in Minecraft and then slip it into a parallel parking place in front of your house and it will appear correctly placed.

"Thanks to super-clever GPS technology, you’ll be able to plant your creations in specific places in the world for other people to find," a Minecraft rep explained in a blog post. "They can then boot up the app and view your builds in all their glory. The app also comes with a few pre-loaded models to get you started."

The app is available for the iPhone at a $2 price point. Frankly, I think this might be one of the coolest augmented reality applications we've seen in a long time.